Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose to a five-month
high as metals and oil advanced after Greece won a second
bailout, easing concern the European debt crisis will crimp
growth and demand for commodities.

“It’s more confirmation that things are getting better,”
Anil Tahiliani, a money manager at McLean & Partners in Calgary,
said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about C$1
billion ($1 billion). “Oil has rallied, so we see gold and
other commodities that are related to oil rally off of that.”

The index advanced eight of the past nine weeks as
improving U.S. employment, manufacturing and housing data
overshadowed the European debt crisis. Seventy-four percent of
Canadian exports went to the U.S. last year, according to
Statistics Canada.

Aid Package

European finance ministers approved 130 billion euros ($172
billion) in aid for Greece by tapping into European Central Bank
profits and coaxing investors into providing more debt relief to
shield the region from a default. Greece’s debt may still
balloon to 160 percent of gross domestic product in a worst-case
scenario, analysis by the International Monetary Fund and
European officials indicated.

Materials companies led gains in Canada as metals rose on
improved prospects for commodity use. Gold had the biggest
advance in more than three weeks as Iran pledged to press on
with its efforts to develop nuclear energy, increasing political
tension and demand for a haven. Copper in New York rose the most
since Nov. 30 as China eased bank-reserve requirements for a
second time in three months.

Copper Spinoff

NovaGold Resources Inc., which is developing projects in
Alaska and British Columbia, rose 3.9 percent to C$8.74. The
company said its shareholders will get one share of NovaCopper
Inc., a unit it plans to spin off, for every six NovaGold shares
they hold. The spinoff will be voted on at a shareholder meeting
in Vancouver on March 28, NovaGold said.

Ivanhoe Mines, Rio Tinto Group’s majority-owned partner in
Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper project, rallied 1.2 percent to
C$16.65 after it was rated buy at Bank of America, with a price
estimate of C$22.

Oil in New York climbed 2.5 percent to $105.84 a barrel,
also boosted when Iran said it will stop selling crude to France
and Britain in order to preempt a European Union ban.

Flint Energy Services Ltd. surged 66 percent to C$24.79
after URS Corp., a San Francisco-based construction company,
agreed to buy the oilfield-services company for C$1.25 billion
in cash to add projects servicing oil and natural gas producers
in Western Canada. Flint shareholders will get C$25 per share.